THE BOOKSTEVE CHANNEL

Automan

2013-06-13T19:06:00.001-04:00

Here's a dorky 1983 series that I kind of liked. The always personable Desi Arnaz Jr starred. Never a great actor but a fun presence. He creates the world's first "automatic man," a living computerized hologram programmed to be able to do just about anything and everything. AUTOMAN! Chuck Wagner with an odd accent played the title role with TRON spfx and was much like a human version of the car in KNIGHTRIDER.

Special Guest Villains

2013-06-09T19:11:00.001-04:00

My Top Ten favorite Bat-Villains...in order!

Men of Steel

2013-06-08T15:46:00.005-04:00

Over at Facebook, I've started a new group in tribute to ALLof the actors who have portrayed Superman over the years on television, radio, movies, cartoons, Broadway, etc. Thanks to Derek Tague for the idea. If you're a Facebooker, join us here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/468095816607294/

RCA Color TV Ad with Jack Benny and Johnny Carson

2013-06-06T15:20:00.002-04:00

We didn't get ours until the summer of '68 but the writing was on the wall in this 1966 ad. Color was IN!

Bill Cullen

2013-06-04T19:07:00.001-04:00

He wasn't an actor, a singer or a dancer. He wasn't a witty writer or a stand-up comic. In fact, Bill Cullen's entire claim to TV fame was as a game show panelist and/or host. I first discovered him on I'VE GOT A SECRET in the early sixties but I followed him through The original THE PRICE IS RIGHT, EYE GUESS, TO TELL THE TRUTH and a dozen or more short-lived game shows up to his passing in 1990. And he did it all with a pronounced disability that made walking hard for him. But that was kept secret from the public. Always a favorite.

R.I.P. Jean Stapleton

2013-06-01T20:04:00.001-04:00

She was so much more than just Edith Bunker but in the grand scheme of things, it was inevitable that Edith would be what we remember her for. TV's berated "dingbat" turned out to be the very heart of the controversial ALL IN THE FAMILY and one of the very best fictional TV characters ever created by an actress.

My Mother the Car

2013-05-30T17:47:00.002-04:00

MY MOTHER THE CAR is remembered as a notorious flop but it really wasn't. It ran a full season and all of the episodes are on Hulu and YouTube so you can check it out yourself. The premise was stupid but hardly the stupidest premise ever to come out of Hollywood. The cast was fine with Jerry Van Dyke endearing in the lead and the voice of veteran Hollywood star Ann Sothern as the reinCARnated mother. Avery Schreiber is fun as the crazy man trying to either buy or steal the car in many episodes as well. MY MOTHER THE CAR was one of the first series I remember being sad about when it was canceled. I was seven years old.

The Rifleman and Son

2013-05-28T11:57:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite westerns growing up was THE RIFLEMAN, surprisingly more a moral play about a father and his son than a typical cowboy drama. The comic book was a success from several different companies. John Crawford, who played the son, will be a guest at September's Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Expo!

http://midatlanticnostalgiaconvention.com/johnny-crawford-of-the-rifleman/

Fast Draw Contest

2013-05-25T00:30:00.000-04:00

Not sure of the date but a fun pic of Clint and Gene "in uniform" as it were, Preston and Borginine out of uniform...and I have no idea what Hugh Downs was up to here. Didn't realize he was that short either!

Dealer's Choice With Bob Hastings

2013-05-24T21:30:00.001-04:00

I don't really remember this 1974 game show at all but I wish I did as it was hosted by my friend Bob Hastings, scheduled to appear as Guest of Honor at the inaugural CINCINNATI NOSTALGIA EXPO this next weekend after coming to town off and on for the past 26 years of its predecessor, THE GREATER CINCINNATI OLD TIME RADIO AND NOSTALGIA CONVENTION. It's been a great pleasure to get to work with and learn from Bob all these years!

R.I.P. Steve Forrest

2013-05-22T21:26:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday, May 18th, I randomly decided to watch a NIGHT GALLERY episode on Hulu. In this case, it was a Western episode featuring a cast of familiar Western faces--Gilbert Roland (right, above), Lex Barker, Buddy Ebsen, Slim Pickens, Albert Salmi...and Steve Forrest. Forrest plays a gunfighter who doesn't realize he's dead. Little did I realize at the time that Forrest, himself, brother of Dana Andrews and always a great authoritative presence in films or television, passed on that date. The news came out today. Rest in Peace.r television, passed on that date. The news came out today.

Rest in Peace.

Men On the Street

2013-05-19T22:00:00.002-04:00

Steve Allen was a multi-talented man, one of whose talents was that he could spot talent in OTHER people! On his fifties shows, he did a feature whereby he allegedly did unrehearsed "man on the street" interviews. The interviewees at various times included such funny folks as Pat Harrington, Dayton Allen and Gabriel Dell but most memorably were the men seen here, some of the funniest of them all.

Louis Nye: Pronounced "Looie," his famous catch-phrase was a fey, "Hi-ho, Steverino!" He specialized in over-privileged mama's boys with delusions of grandeur but he could also do a good serious role. In fact he made a good, long career as a character actor in films and on TV including a running role on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM in his 90s!

Don Knotts: He started in radio and while he didn't really seem to have the looks for TV, his uber-nervous character on the Allen Show more than made up for that. Andy Griffith recognized his talent and put him on his own show a few years later, effectively reducing himself to straight man and in the process creating TV history. In the sixties, he became an unlikely major movie star and, a decade later, returned to TV as a popular regular on THREE'S COMPANY!

Tom Poston: Perhaps the funniest of them all, Poston is best remembered today as a smart panelist with a dry wit on the TV quiz show TO TELL THE TRUTH but his career encompassed a number of stage triumphs as well. He was an amiable leading man in a couple of sixties features but ended up a most welcome character player in films (such as PRINCESS DIARIES 2) and on television in such shows as NEWHART. He even married Suzanne Pleshette, Newahrt's wife from his previous TV series where Poston also appeared in a few episodes!

All in all, three very, very funny guys!

Cincinnati's Nostalgia Expo Reminder

2013-05-15T18:03:00.002-04:00

Bob and Dorothy Jo

2013-05-14T20:40:00.001-04:00

It's hard to deny Bob Barker his place as THE best game show host of all time but reports of his sexual harassment of models during his long and successful run on THE PRICE IS RIGHT are too prevalent to ignore. Seen here is Bob's wife of 36 years, Dorothy Jo. Often seen on Bob's TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES series (and later, I believe, on TATTLETALES), Dorothy Jo came across as a tough broad who adored Bob but wouldn't put up with any shenanigans! Had she not passed in 1981, I'm betting Bob would not have had the issues he later had...or if he had, he would not have survived them!

TV Mothers

2013-05-12T13:42:00.002-04:00

Banacek

2013-05-05T20:21:00.002-04:00

NBC's MYSTERY MOVIE rotating anthology series produced several of my very favorite seventies television series including McCLOUD, HEC RAMSEY and COLUMBO. Another on that list would have to be BANACEK. I was never a big George Peppard fan. I find his acting both before and after this series to be either dismally dull or annoyingly smug. Yes, that includes A-TEAM.

But here, as a Polish-American millionaire insurance investigator in Boston, he is the very personification of the word cool, helped along by some wonderful writing and often amazingly clever mystery plots.

And also a great supporting cast. Although he owns and sometimes drives a gorgeous 1941 Packard, Banacek is most often chauffeured in a limo by Jay (played by Ralph Manza), a very traditional comic sidekick as one might find in movies of The Falcon, The Saint or the Lone Wolf.

Murray Matheson is the brains of the operation as Felix, intellectual owner of an antiquarian bookstore and our hero's go-to guy for any and all obscure info or even the word on the street.

Thomas Banacek's heritage is played up often. At the time, Polish jokes were big and Polish organizations weren't happy about that. Smart, sexy Banacek with his own "old Polish proverbs" became a popular role model for such groups.

Christine Belford appeared on the show semi-regularly as a rival insurance investigator and sometimes "love"interest. Around this same time, she and Peppard starred opposite each other in a clever but now forgotten feature film mystery entitled THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY. Originally, I found her character grating for some reason, but in later viewings I've quite enjoyed their cat and mouse games.

The show ran, as did its fellow Mystery Movies, in a more or less monthly 90 minute or 2 hour slot. There were only two seasons with critical success but middling ratings. Supposedly Peppard, then going through a rocky divorce, exited after that so his soon-to-be ex wouldn't get half of his earnings under California law.

The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention 2013

2013-05-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

Julie Newmar

As you may have noticed, this blog is now officially sponsored by Martin Grams' Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, one of THE best places to catch some of your classic TV favorites year after year. We'll be spotlighting a number of shows connected to the con, past and present, as we near the actual September event. Here are a few of this year's guests. Click the banner at the bottom of the page to go to the Con's page for much more info!

Edward Asner

John Crawford

Elizabeth Shepherd

Robert Loggia

Also appearing! Legendary movie stars Mamie Van Doren and Margaret O'Brien!

Hanna-Barbera-The Rocky Road to Success-1961

2013-04-26T21:59:00.001-04:00

Vito Scotti--My First "That Guy."

2013-04-24T15:45:00.001-04:00

Probably the earliest character actor I remember recognizing from one show to another was Vito Scotti, an absolute expert in different ethnic characterizations. He started in films in the late forties but really made his mark on television a few years later. One look at his IMDB filmography verifies my theory that he was pretty much on everything in the sixties and early seventies...and quite a few things after that, right up to his passing in 1996!

For more info on Vito Scotti, check out his Wikipedia page here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Scotti

Jerry Mahoney

2013-04-22T13:34:00.002-04:00

While the heyday of Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney was before my time, the great voice actor and his little wooden friend continued to delight well into my formative years. Here's a one-page piece from the mid-fifties.

R.I.P. Annette

2013-04-21T15:24:00.003-04:00

Perhaps my first TV crush, we lost Annette Funicello while my computer was giving me fits. Her earliest success was before I was born but I saw her on ZORRO and reruns of MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY and, yes, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. Soon enough, I was watching her in the almost ubiquitous Beach Party movies of the early to mid-sixties. She was, by all accounts, as sweet and lovely inside as out. A friend even though we never met. Rest in peace, my friend.

That Li'l Girl

2013-04-17T17:11:00.002-04:00

In the center is young Margo Thomas, pre-nose job and before she changed her "g" to an "l." The even tinier Thomas at left is her sister Terre aka Theresa, aka, apparently, "Chita!"

R.I.P. Jonathan Winters

2013-04-13T17:33:00.000-04:00

As I grew out of toddler-hood, Jonathan Winters was recognized as a familiar TV presence. By the early seventies, his improvs had become absolute favorites. R.I.P.

Asking For Your Help

2013-04-01T18:12:00.000-04:00

http://www.gofundme.com/2gyu3k

I average 12 fairly popular blogs at any one time and since 2009, partly for health reasons, I have also made my living working from home doing proofreading, transcription, research, fact-checking, editing, editorial assistance, writing and ghostwriting as well as selling off collectibles online. Since December, my IMac has been having intermittent issues that prevent me from working to my best and frustrate me (and my already high blood pressure) endlessly. After talking to Apple, they suggest repairs might cost more than getting an upgraded computer. This one is, after all, three years old.

Amanda Palmer recently posted a video about how people are willing to help if they are just asked. I'm asking. We're still living paycheck to paycheck from my wife's new job and my freelance income. An upgraded version of the computer I have--with all the software I'd need to keep working--would be around $2000.00.

If you've ever enjoyed any of my postings or my writing or my art or my Facebook photo galleries, I'm asking you now to help me keep it going. If 80 people give $25.00 apiece, it's a done deal! I'm asking. If you're in a position to help us out, please consider doing so and I promise to continue to turn out entertaining posts and products for years to come!

Dick Van Dyke/Mary Tyler Moore--Two For the Road

2013-03-30T13:56:00.003-04:00